Saturday, Oct. 16, 2004

Director Robert Wilson and composer-librettist
Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the a capella group Sweet
Honey in the Rock, have joined forces to create a music-theater
piece based on Gustave Flaubert’s 1874 novel "The Temptation
of St. Anthony," which will be presented at BAM’s Howard
Gilman Opera House Oct 19-24. Comment

Although known for exhibits on subjects
as ancient as the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton
- which is on view through Feb. 13 - the New York Historical
Society’s latest exhibition, "The Rescue," recalls
the very recent attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11,
2001. Comment

Meet the artists who live around the Gowanus
Canal in the eighth annual Gowanus Artists Open Studio Tour on
Oct. 23-24. This year, 85 visual artists including Patrick Barrett
(whose 2003 Polaroid manipulation "Carroll Street Bridge"
is pictured above) are showing off their works, which range from
paintings to photographs and from textiles to porcelain. Comment

As Mazeppa sings in the musical "Gypsy,"
"You gotta have a gimmick." Writer-director-composer
Richard Maxwell, whose latest offering "Good Samaritans"
is having its American premiere at St. Ann’s Warehouse now through
Oct. 24, has learned this lesson well. So well, many of his admirers
seem to have forgotten that beneath the style, there should be
substance. Comment

Work, work, work. In the latest installment
of the "New French Connection" film series at BAMcinematek,
work is a prominent theme: people meet on the job and form relationships;
they learn life lessons through the tasks they must perform;
the workplace is even used to explore the experiences of legal
and illegal immigrants. Comment

Dressed all in white, three pastry chefs
are fast at work, kneading, shaping and whisking inside Almondine,
a new bakery opened by Jacques
Torres and pastry chef Herve Poussot across the street from
Torres’ world-famous chocolate factory in DUMBO. Comments (1)

The modest public park on the triangle near the Brooklyn Academy of Music,
where Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue intersect, represents to many
Fort Greeners everything problematic with the BAM Local Development Corporation. Comment

Atlantic Yards: Over the past 10 weeks, while invited community members, community board
leaders and heads of community organizations worked with Bruce Ratner
to clandestinely forge a community benefits agreement for the Atlantic
Yards development, the question asked by local politicians, individuals,
neighborhood associations and opponents of the arena project has been,
“Who exactly is the community?” Comment

Atlantic Yards: In response to pressure from community members, politicians and the press,
community boards 2, 6 and 8 publicly announced their involvement in negotiations
for a community benefits agreement with developer Bruce Ratner over his
planned Atlantic Yards basketball arena, office tower and housing complex. Comment

The City Council voted 50-1 Wednesday in favor of zoning changes that
would allow Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea to build a megastore on
the Red Hook waterfront. Only East New York Councilman Charles Barron
voted against the contentious plan. Comment

Facing certain rejection from a key City Council committee this week,
DUMBO developers David and Jed Walentas abruptly withdrew their plans
to build a 16-story apartment building on Water Street near the Brooklyn
Bridge overpass. Comment